Review: Worth the Wait by Joey W Hill

Reviewed by Shelly

The prospect of a heroine who’s over the age of 35 had me overjoyed. I couldn’t say yes fast enough to reading this story, then I couldn’t wait to get started. Although this is the 9th book in Joey Hill’s ‘Nature of Desire’ series, it was mentioned that it could be read as a standalone and I was really hoping that was true.

Theater manager, Julie Ramirez recently migrated to North Carolina to open a small community theater for her friend Madison. The theater is an erotic performance theater, which I’d never heard of – the erotic part that is, and I was curious enough about so that added another level of enthusiasm. Desmond Hayes, the local roofer, who’s provided some help with a leaker roof is also a rigger and known in the local BDSM community for this rope skills. The thing is that Desmond has a secret , Type 1 Diabetes, that created its own storyline down the way.

This didn’t read well as a standalone, not at all. Julie was introduced and another book in this series; I don’t know which because this is the first story I’ve read from this author. She considers her best friends to be a gay couple, Thomas and Marcus, who are in the BDSM lifestyle. I’m not sure which stories they appeared in but if you’re a fan of that couple, you’ll be pleased by their presence because they get mentioned – a lot. By page 32 (ebook version), I knew I wasn’t going to like Julie. I knew this because of a bit of foreshadowing – ‘that belief was that the real loser in all her past relationships – and why they’d all failed – was herself’. You’re 100% right there, Julie! If by the time you’re 40 and can’t/won’t develop a long lasting relationship, it’s time to look the mirror. But I digress.

Julie’s friendship with Madison, who I’m guessing also has her own book with her Dom, is the catalyst to wanting to do this theater project. And before her first ‘play’, the theater needs a big overhaul. Everything needs to be set up including the building, and that’s where Desmond ‘Des’ comes in. He quickly has Julie tied up and shows her the ‘freedom’ of being tied up. There’s even some wax play stuff that had me shaking my head about, both because I thought it happened so quickly after meeting Des and for Julie not having been a practitioner of either the bondage or wax play – as she kept saying. None of that matters because Julie is super excited and super scared at the time, but she doesn’t want to create a bond with Des as she’s so terrible at relationships. For some reason, Julie seemed more interested in the BDSM lifestyle because she knew people in it and they were all couples versus being interested in the lifestyle itself.

I’m not a prude by any means of the imagination, but this story made me think I was. Julie’s got this thing about seeing Thomas and Marcus in action; I mean sexually speaking. It’s the weirdest thing because I don’t think that I’ve ever either read that about BFFs or experience the thrill of ever wanting to see my BFF having sex. Yuck, eye bleach please. There’s even mention of a birthday ‘gift’ that Thomas and Marcus gave Julie where she was in their bed and gave her an orgasm, both men are gay and in a committed relationship at the time, and then the pièce de résistance – they let her stay in bed with them while they have sex. Am I the only one who doesn’t really think that’s cool? But I guess it’s consensual so that’s what makes it a-okay. But Julie, just so you know – I’m judging you for that.

The relationship between Julie and Des actually didn’t work for me either,r because I didn’t care about either of them and their coupleness didn’t inspire any emotions for me either.

Des had a rough start in life. He was left by his mother and primarily raised in a orphanage because of his medical condition, but he had a caring nurse. Even though she cared for him physically and emotionally, I’m not sure that Des ever really appreciated that, but I guess he didn’t have to. He did live in the caretaker house on her property, though, so I couldn’t figure out if he was using her for what she did for him medically or if he actually cared about her.

Even with all of his Dom-ness and his presence as a top, I couldn’t give a care about him; he came off as likable for me. He just seemed really flat. He seemed to be a Dom/top/Diabetic and that’s all. There’s no personality other than the occasional rope stuff and this sex.

Nothing about this book worked for me and it should have. It’s a long book, more than 300 pages, so there’s enough time to develop both characters and plot. I’m still trying to figure out the purpose of Des’s rescue from the would be rapist of Julie in the theater. I’m still trying to figure out why when Julie finally was in a relationship with Des, she’s still fantasizing about seeing Thomas and Marcus have sex. I’m also trying to figure out why Betty, Des’s nurse, had to sound like the Oracle in The Matrix. Why would you do that? Is Des supposed to be Neo? Argh… I’m still trying to figure out WTF is Billie Dee-lite. Reading him was like the worse episode of RuPaul’s drag race. I’m still trying to figure out why I now can’t stand the endearment ‘Love’. I’m still trying to figure out who all the other people where in this story because I felt like I got dropped into the middle of something and I could never keep up nor catch up, which doesn’t make for a good read.